How to organize a “breathing” office.
City dwellers spend at least a third of their lives in the office. If we take into account that another third goes to sleep, it turns out that a person spends half of his active time within the office premises. It is quite natural that in order to increase the productivity of employees, it is necessary to provide the most comfortable working atmosphere. And not only figuratively, but also literally. We are talking about the air we breathe at work.
Choosing the best
Unfortunately, although in the metropolis the composition of the air is far from ideal, we have no opportunity to influence its chemical composition. But creating a certain temperature, humidity, and preventing the development of pathogenic flora in it is possible and necessary.
In Russia there are a large number of standards regarding air parameters in office premises. The basic requirements are a temperature of 19–25°C and a humidity of about 50%. Fresh air must be supplied at least 60 m³ per person. To comply with these parameters, when choosing office premises of classes A and B, two factors must be taken into account.
Factor one: the building must be officially commissioned. Very often, the office begins to be used before the entire complex is put into operation, and some of the systems are still inactive or operating in test mode. As a rule, these include climate control. Therefore, if there is a choice (and during the crisis it appeared, since currently, according to various sources, about 30% of office space is unoccupied), it is better to be located in a fully functioning building.
Factor two: the air supply and purification system must be technically “advanced”. Modern climate control equipment allows you to regulate the temperature inside each room. It is highly desirable to have four-pipe fan coil units (devices that allow you to regulate the temperature locally in designated areas of the building), especially in buildings where it is prohibited to open windows.
Do it yourself
If you are considering a less expensive segment of offices (classes C, D), where the possibility of individual temperature control is not provided, it is advisable to make sure that the technical parameters of the building allow you to install additional climate control systems and obtain permission from the owner of the premises to these improvements.
When choosing equipment for independently organizing a supply and exhaust ventilation system, you need to remember that air supply standards that apply to professionally designed systems require adjustments in the case of “amateur” projects. So, if 20 people work in a room, the required influx should be 1200 cubic meters of air per hour. But, taking into account the inevitable friction losses, the performance of the supply fan should be higher: when installing ventilation in hard ducts, a power reserve of at least 10-15% is needed, and when using soft corrugated ducts — at least twofold.
You can use a simpler fan in the exhaust system, since it performs an auxiliary function. The performance of the exhaust fan can be 15% lower than the supply fan, but the difference in power calculations for hard and soft ducts remains.
There is never too much power
In general, do not be afraid to overdo the power of a technical device. Firstly, because actual losses, as a rule, exceed those planned. And secondly, the greater the power, the less the system is loaded during operation, and therefore, the slower it wears out and the longer its resource is preserved. Plus, the system is assembled from larger components, which also provides an additional margin of strength and durability.
All of the above is equally true for split systems. Basically, to serve 10 m² 1 kW of cold power is enough for the room. However, experts advise slightly exceeding this norm. So, for an office space with an area of about 20 m2, where, as a rule, no more than 5 people work at personal computers, it is recommended to choose air conditioners with a power of about 2.6–3.5 kW.
Getting it into condition
When choosing an air conditioner model, pay attention to several more technical components.
With the onset of cold weather, a winter start is very useful — a device that allows the air conditioner to operate in winter and is an electric heating system for the external unit. You will also appreciate the benefits of high-quality, well-thought-out drainage, as well as a self-cleaning system that eliminates the formation of pathogenic bacteria inside the device.
A built-in ionizer will also come in handy. In urban environments, in offices and other premises where people stay for a long time, the natural ionization of air is absolutely insufficient and dangerously low. The lack of negatively charged air ions causes constant oxygen starvation, decreased performance, poor health, leads to loss of attention, weakened immunity, increased fatigue, and also provokes the development of many diseases. If you have chosen an air conditioner model without an air ionization function, it is advisable to equip the premises with household ionizers.
In addition, you should take care of steam humidification systems. The fact is that air conditioners greatly dehumidify the air, which is also harmful to human health. But this problem is easy to solve — there are a lot of humidification systems, and their cost is low.
Keep your head warm
The main function of an air conditioner is to create and maintain comfortable indoor conditions for humans. Technical decisions made in the process of organizing a climate control system should be subordinated to the same goal: air conditioners should not become a hindrance, therefore wall-mounted ones are better than floor-mounted ones, which, in turn, are inferior in convenience to ceiling ones. If the choice is made in favor of wall-mounted climate control systems, it is advisable to immediately install horizontal screens under them so that cold air currents do not disturb people whose workplaces are located below.
The East is a delicate matter
Experts unanimously give the palm to air conditioners made in Japan. The Daikin system enjoys the best reputation and is considered something of a Mercedes of the air conditioning world. Korean and Chinese models work quite well, but they are built to the limit of strength, which makes purchasing such a system somewhat of a lottery. In addition, such models have a significantly lower service life — as a rule, it is exhausted along with their warranty period. True, in fairness it should be noted that both the Koreans and the Chinese are constantly working on quality, so it is possible that the situation will soon change.
And yet, the most important factor that a leading company needs to work on is a good psychological climate. If certainty is achieved on this issue, there will be no problems with all other issues.